A blog in reviewal of all those good times had as a child in front of a glowing screen. Whether it be an old Mac, an old PC, Nintendo, or Sega...all brands, genres and skill-levels will be covered in detail. Were you a fan of NBA Jam? How about The Secret of Monkey Island? Or were you more of a Power Pete kind-of-guy?
No matter what your platform, this blog is for you.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

A Bit of Courage: Why I Want to Become a Streamed Gamer

The other day after tagging a post on Twitter about my blog, I decided that I wanted to see who else out there was using the hashtag #GirlGamer. I figured, if anything, I could find some new blogs to read and new women with similar interests to myself to talk to. Instead what I found was a plethora of Twitch streams with petitions against them to be banned for inappropriate content. Now, I am no stranger to the almost naked female form in gaming, nor am I someone who is really bothered by it, but this took it to a whole new level.

Ladies, do we really need to show our boobs to feel popular and loved in the gaming world? I think not. We do not need another venue where we can cheapen our own strength or prowess at gaming. All I could think of was whether I would have wanted myself at 13 seeing it, and how that could have changed my perspective of myself and my other female gaming brethren. While many of us may be hot, it is not a thing that we should need to flaunt to get views.

Now, I do say this with a grain of salt. I understand that there are awesome girl gamers out there with streams online like Minx, Hafu and others. But when searching for "Best Girl Gamers" or something of the like, the top posts that come up are "Hottest Girl Gamers" "10 Sexiest Girl Gamers" and other equally degrading headlines with trashy girls felating their vent headsets.

Everyone likes to feel attractive, and I totally understand that, but I do not know that "hot" is the best identity trait that as adult women we should be conveying to young girls. I don't know about you but at that age I was pretty lonely, estranged from my classmates, and looking for someone to look up to—someone that shared my interests and I could admire and aspire to be like. I never really ended up having one, and goddamn it I wish I had.

I like the idea of girl gaming streams because I think that it is yet another way for women to connect about common interests, learn from each other, and make new friends. We are lucky that we live in a time and place where gaming has become a spectator sport. I think that, just like men, we should be able to do that and not have to worry about whether we look "hot" enough to be popular. Our skill should speak for us.

Either way. /endrant. It is because of this that I have decided to start taking my gaming from a casual level to something a bit more serious. By the end of the year I want to be good enough that I can have an amateur stream that is inspiring for girls and women, interesting for other gamers, and includes 0% of my tits. If you want to play League with me, my name is mercenators, if you have other games that you are interested in playing or want to suggest, hit me up in the comments. Thanks for any support you throw my way.